Two Corpses Go Dancing – Jan Kejval

Witness interview of: Jan Kejval – neighbour of Mrs. Tryna-Rytza

Date/Place: 19 Mar 04/Warsaw

Several days have passed since the acts I witnessed, but all of them have very
clearly etched in my memory. It all happened on the 15th of March in the street of
my permanent residence on Piecuszka 11, Warsaw. Until this all happened,
everything seemed fine about my day. As the sun set, I went to my computer and
did some work stuff. I kept the window open while I worked like I always do.
Around midnight I heard strange noises that seemed unusual for our street at this
late hour. I got up quickly and hurried to the window, where I peeked out from
behind the curtains. As I peeked, I spotted a man wearing a black bucket hat, plain
trousers, and a sort of grey coat, nothing unusual I would say. He banged heavily
on the door as he tried to break into the house/cellar where my lovely neighbour
Mrs Tryna-Rytza with her husband lives. After a moment of struggling with the
door, Tryna's husband opened the door. Here began an intense conversation
between the two men. I tried to understand as much as I could. He inquired if Mrs
Tryna-Rytza lives here. Then this mysterious man introduced himself as Itche-
Godl, Tryna's husband. At this moment Tryna stood already here. According to my
listening, she couldn’t say a single word. Instead of saying something back to the
man, she suddenly started screaming. After that, I heard just the slam of the door,
and the dialogue seemed over. The man stood there muttering to himself for a
moment, but after a while, he disappeared into the night.

The next day I sent myself to go shopping. As I went to the market, I thought about
last night, about what happened. Madness, I thought. I wanted to stock up on food
for the week, but something interrupted me. Such a silence before the storm. As I
looked around the store, I saw just only one figure. From the first moment, I
thought I knew him. He rocked the same clothes as the guy from last night. I
approached him closely. He appeared really exhausted. I noted him sweating, a lot.
His face seemed like death itself. From the bottom of my heart, I can say that this
guy seemed off. At this moment, I got completely stunned. I saw him stealing a lot
of money from the cash register because the cashier who went to the back of the
store found herself missing there. He immediately ran out of the store after
grabbing the money he needed for his necessity, and he suddenly vanished into the
crowd. I tried to walk out of the store to stop him. A little bit too late. He took
advantage of his surroundings and disappeared.

I felt so useless after all those things happened. I wanted to calm myself down
somehow. So, I went to my favourite canteen for lunch. For a moment, I sensed a
moment of peace again, until the same man who claimed to be Mrs Tryna-Rytza's
husband and mainly above all a thief stepped in! I listened carefully to his order.
He ordered calves’ feet, egg noodles, with a bowl of carrots, fried potatoes, and a
glass of brandy for lunch. Obviously, He disposed of money now, so he could
afford it. I watched his every single move. He ate his lunch, washed it down with
his brandy and he left. I observed him so much that I missed the most essential part
of his presence. On the way out this vicious man took a decent brown fur coat and
a black sable hat.

Since I got distracted while shopping at the previous market, I decided to visit
another one. The one where Mrs Tryna-Rytza works as a seller of vegetables and
fruit. I absolutely love this marketplace and her warm welcome makes it ten times
better every single time! This store has only one drawback, it is a bit far from my
place of living. But disaster struck! The man, the myth himself got here before I
did. I stood there in disbelief with my mouth agape. I asked myself a question “am
I dreaming?”. I kept my distance in the interest of not being seen by Itche-Godl.
Itche-Godl stood there charged full of charisma, gained by wearing his brand-new
nobleman outfit. He suddenly stopped in order to converse with one of the sellers,
with Mrs Tryna-Rytza personally. I could not hear what they discussed, but all the
things that happened surely led to an intense dialogue between them. At first sight,
Mrs Tryna-Rytza seemed fine. From my perspective, she did not know who she
talked with. She did not recognize him, because of his newly obtained clothes from
the canteen. He used the stolen outfit to cloak himself in it, to make himself
unrecognizable, but not every lie lasts forever. After a while, she found out the
man's origin. Once again Itche-Godl stepped up into her life. Hand in hand with the
moment of realizing the origination of this man she instantaneously fainted away. I
didn't hesitate and I ran to help her but also at that very moment, this mysterious
man vanished into the crowd without even bothering to help her. Since then, I have
never seen him again.